Well, John and Terrence made it to the Great Wall of China (as evidenced by the photos below).

Oddly enough, it was still standing after they left.

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Apparently, John and Terrence feel like they can actually take a break in their travels and eat.

Here we see them dining at one of the best Sichuan restaurants in Shangshi.

What, you expected them to find a McDonalds in Shangshi?

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John and Terrence are on the move, and are now in mainland China at the city of Shenzhen. They'll be meeting with some of those companies I told you about yesterday.

In the meantime, here's a shot of them on their flight--

Look like a couple of trouble makers to me.

And this is the view from the limo they were riding in last night (hey, I admit you can't see much. Work with me, okay?))--

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As I write this, John and Terrence are somewhere in Taipai, having arrived in Hong Kong over the weekend and now having moved onto Taipai. They will be meeting with representatives of several well known companies, including a consuemr goods/baby care products company, a leading luxury car maker and a maker of a popular sauce that my daughter happens to love.

They'll soon be moving on to meet other clients and propsecitive clients, but for now, they're staying in a hotel in Taipei that gives them an excellent view of the world's tallest inhabited building. In researching "world's tallest buildings," I discovered that there is a dispute as to what defines a building vs. a structure.

For now, it's safe to say that Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan is the tallest inhabited structure.

Take a look for yourself in this photo John took--

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U.S. District Court Judge John H. McBryde has decided to let American Airlines proceed with its lawsuit against Google.

The airline's complaint alleges that Google allows rivals to pay to have links to their sites appear when computer users search Google for American trademark terms, such as AAdvantage. American claims that Google was infringing on its trademarks and deceiving consumers.

Google has successfully fought lawsuits making similar claims in the past. GEICO had sued Google for similar reasons but Google prevailed in that matter. And reportedly other companies have filed similar lawsuits against Google alleging that paid advertising by competitors amounts to trademark infringement.

The Judge actually gave no reason for his ruling, but it is interesting that he must have found reason to ignore the precedence established by the GEICO case against Google.

Should American prevail, and odds are an actual trial is still far off in the future (not to mention the appeals that will no doubt follow), the case has the potential to change the face on online advertising. Worse for Google, it potentially could strike a blow to their whole business model.

We'll keep track of the case as it slowly develops. 

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... and Terrence leaves for China tomorrow.

His going away party was a success, particularly since some former Zunchers stopped by to help celebrate and to wish him good luck.

In just a few days, Terrence will be back in China, although he won't be alone for long. John Sanchez, our CEO, will be joining him there this weekend and the two of them will begin a whirlwind tour that has them crisscrossing China to meet with clients and prospective clients throughout the country.

Their journey begins in Hong Kong early next week, and we'll give you daily updates on their trip, hopefully including a few photos now-and-then.

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Terrence Ou, our expert on China, is about to hit the road again for China. Only this time, he's going to be gone for a long, long time.

You see, China is proving to be a major source of potential business and many Chinese businesses prefer being able to have face-to-face meetings to e-mails and long distance phone calls.

And after his recent book signing tour and stint promoting Zunch in China, it just made sense that Terrence should move to China (Beijing to be exact) and operate from there. Besides, Terrrence has wanted to relocate to China for some time, so it's not like we had to twist his arm to get him to do it.

So soon, when you see Terrence's posts both here and on the Zunch China blog, they'll be originating from China, rather than the home office in Dallas.

And tonight we're throwing a going away party for Terrence as his send off for the Far East. Should be a fun time for all.

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Who says the search engiens ignore the advertisers that they derive so much income from?...well, maybe its kinda true on the click fraud front.

Google Adwords has added a new page for Adword users called "Keyword Anaysis Page."  You can read all about it here.

With this tool, you can get more information about the Quality Score for keywords being used in advertisements. While it's not perfect, it could be a key tool for Adword users to make use of in crafting their campaigns.

Hey, Google is even asking for feedback on the tool, so try it out and let them know what you think.

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Apparently, Microsoft has a breaking point. After spending hundreds of millions fighting anti-trust allegations in Europe (including some hefty fines), they've finally decided to give in.

Read about it here.

After a nine year fight, Microsoft has finally seen the writing on the wall. This should mean both lower prices and faster development of new software.

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Click fraud just won't go away. In fact, despite repeated promises by Google, Yahoo! and others, it continues to be a growing problem.

Read all about it here.

If you're concerned about this problem that the search engines apparently can't or won't do anything about, check out Zunch's own Click Fraud Detective for your solutions to this pervasive problem.

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A recent survey by Forrester Research tells us that are three things visitors want when they come to your website. And if you do these things, the odds of having them stick around, and become a client or customer (if you happen to be offering a service or product) increase tenfold.

The top three things website visitors seek:

1. High-quality information: Content is the biggest influence on a visitor's decision to return to a website. If they don't see anything of interest, they're out of there. Sometimes in as little as five seconds

2. Ease of use: The site architecture should be simple and intuitive. Basically, I (an extremely technically challenged type) should be able to find what I'm looking for without a lot of work.

3. Quick to download: Visitors hate lag time as a site downloads. They get frustrated if they have to wait more than a few seconds for a page to download. and most will abandon your site in less than five seconds if they are forced to wait.

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While we can't quite spill the beans yet, we've got some major announcements upcoming regarding Zunch China.

As you know, Terrence recently returned from there. We're finalizing a few details now, so watch for the announcement in the coming week.

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Hey, Terrence just walked in the door. Fresh off a very long flight home from China.

And he comes bearing gifts. He just handed me a copy of his book, SEO Unlocked, and a hand fan.

I'm guessing the fan is for my wife and kids. Make that my wife, the fan is really cool and my kids would probably manage to tear it up in less than 24 hours.

After he settles in and shares some details of his trip, I'll update you on how things are going in China.

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...good luck finding a parking space at your favorite restaurant. Even in the North Dallas area.

The Red River Shootout is the annual meeting between Oklahoma and Texas. I've never attended one, although I did once make the mistake of attending the State Fair of the Texas on the day of the game.

You see, the game takes place on a Saturday in October and is played at the Cotton Bowl, which just happens to be in the middle of the State Fair of Texas. And attending the State Fair on Texas-OU day is not a good thing, because the already packed State Fair has another 80,000+ crazed fans dumped on the grounds. Being there is kind of like being a sardine that can move around in the can, but can't really get anywhere.

So, since then, I've avoided the Fair Park area, where both the Cotton Bowl and the State Fair are located, on the Saturday on the Texas-OU game.

However, the Red River Shootout also brings thousands of Ut and Oklahoma fans to the area. And they apparently are no longer content to eat in Dallas city proper.

I decided to eat at Snuffer's in Addison for lunch (one of my favorite restaurants).

When I got there, I couldn't find a place to park. in fact, I ended up in parking a few blocks away. The restaurant was as packed as the parking lot. And everywhere i looked, I saw either burnt orange or crimson. The UT-OU fans have moved north of downtown Dallas, invading Addison in general and Snuffers in particular.

Worse, I had to wait on a table and then it took forever to get my order. A very un-Snuffer's like experience, since usually the staff falls all over themselves to serve you.

Now I love college football. And the Sooners are my second favorite college team.

But can't we pass a rule banning UT-OU fans from wandering north of the Dallas city limits during the Red River Shootout?

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Hey, I just realized that our state-side readers, both of them, porbably haven't seen Terrence's hot seller-- "SEO Unlocked."

So here's your first look. Unless you're fluent in Mandarin, I kind of doubt you'll understand most of it--

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Terrence, our man in China, is quietly preparing for his return to the US. In the meantime, he's been visting with Chinese businesses, introducing them to Zunch, and probably offering to sell them a copy of his book SEO Unlocked..

I'm not sure if there's a Chinese version of the business book best seller list, but if there is, I'm betting Terrence's book is on it.

We'll get a full update from Terrence upon his return.

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I am a college football fan. I'd much rather watch college ball than the NFL. And I think I'm a pretty good prognosticator (at least heads up; i'm not much of a gambler so I never mess with the point spread).

So today, I'm introducing my college picks of the week.

Although this is going to be an early edition with only one game discussed, simply because a game of interest to me is being played tonight-- Texas A&M at Miami.

Now before you assume i'm an unbiased observer and decide to trust my picks, you need to understand that I do have my biases.

For starters, I wish failure on the Aggies every week. As a Texas Tech alumn, I just can't bring myself to root for the Ags. Sorry, it just goes back to the days of the old Southwest Conference and when one Jackie Sherrill elevated the buying of players to an art form, while also starting the near ridiculous escalation of coaches' salaries.

Not that I don't want coaches to be well paid. But there's just something wrong with a coach, take Nick Saban for example, pulling down $4 million a year while he's got players who can't buy a meal if the cafeteria happens to be closed.

But I digress..

Coach Fran at A&M has been awful cocky lately, and I'm not really sure why. It's not like he's won any conferences title or anything like that. Heck, he hasn't even managed to beat Tech yet. In fact, A&M seems to have a hard time with Tech. In the 2006-2007 college season, Tech beat A&M both on the gridiron and on the basketball court.

In fact, I think Tech has won 9 of the last 12 meetings between the football teams. A&M doesn't consider Tech a rival, and with a record like that, they're right. That's not a rivalry, that's outright dominance by Tech.

But I digress again...

A&M barely escaped against Fresno State, and it has dominated its other two opponents, Montana State and Louisiana Monroe, but that's nothing to brag about. Sorry, Ags, but while you think you're a top ten program, the reality is, you'll be lucky to finish in the top 25 this year.

Miami is in similar straits, although they have played at least one quality opponent. Unfortunately, for them, their one game was at OU, resulting in a severe spanking being administered to them by Oklahoma.

 Tonight, Fran will be exposed, and the Aggies downward spiral will begin. No kidding, I peg the Aggies finishing out the year at 7 and 5, and that's figuring they'll be in better shape than UT come Thanksgiving weekend.

Miami is out to prove that they are making their way back among the elite, although I think they know they've got a ways to go. Still, I have a feeling that the Canes won't fall to two Big 12 programs in one season, so watch for the Canes to not just win, but whip up on the Aggies. We'll also learn that the Ags need to go shopping for some receivers.

The score? I hate predicting scores, it's such a fruitless endeavor, but what the heck, try 27-14, with the Canes on top.

Tomorrow: My picks for the remainder of the weekend.

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Microsoft, that company that so many love to hate (although don't include Zuncher Dan in that group), might have to pony up a $613 million fine handed done by the European Union soon.

They just lost their appeal and have two months to decide whether or not to appeal the appeal (kinda redundant, ain't it?). You can read all about it here.

The EU Court of First Instance, which I gather is what you call an appeals court in EU circles, ruled against Microsoft  on the major parts of the case, stating that the European Commission was correct in concluding that the company was guilty of monopoly abuse in trying to use its power over desktop computers to muscle into server software.

Microsoft? A monopoly?

Who knew?

Trust me. Even though Microsoft has more than enough cash to pay the fine, they're going to appeal. They literally have no choice since ultimately losing on this issue could mean they will be forced to reveal code and otherwise valuable intellectual property in order to comply with the EU's findings. 

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Back when I had hopes of earning an MBA, I was taking a marketing class where I managed to ace the course thanks largely to a paper and presentation I did on Southwest Airlines.

From its earliest days, Southwest had always successfully marched to the beat of a different drummer. As did its longtime CEO and President, Herb Kelleher, who infused it with a sense of humor and a atmosphere of success.

It has easily been the premier success story in airline history. Other airlines studied it, trying to figure out how it managed to profitable year after year while so many other either sought bankruptcy protection or teetered on the verge of bankruptcy.

After an extensive study, an exasperated American Airlines exec concluded, "That place runs on Herb Kelleher's bull****."

Well, maybe not so much anymore. The iconic airline has managed to take itself down a peg, acting like its snobbier brethren.  In fact, it appears Southwest has hired the clothes police to screen passengers.

You can read about it here.

The incident has gained national exposure and even got Kyla Ebbert, the target of Southwest’s clothes police, a few minutes on the Today show.

This from the airline that once famously clad its flight attendants in hot pants?

I’m guessing there was a lapse in judgment for the Southwest rep who decided Kyla was under-dressed. Either that or she gave him some bad service at the Hooters where she works.

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Not content with allowing us to stare down at our homes and offices from the heavens using Google Earth, Google now bring us Sky, which essentially turns the telescope around and points it at the rest of the universe.

 By downloading the latest version of Google Earth, you now can get Sky, Google’s eye on the universe, with it.

Download it and you’ll be able to zoom in on more than 100 million stars, 200 million galaxies, our solar system's planets and our moon. You can also see constellations and high-resolution images from the Hubble Telescope.

Sky also features a search function that allows instant viewing of specific astronomical features.

Check it out.

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Just got back from a copywriter's seminar in Sin City itself-- Las Vegas.

The seminar was on the subject of nuero-linguistic programming  (NLP) and its use in copywriting. Really interesting stuff that I'll be trying to incorporate into content that I create for Zunch clients in the future.

Anyway, this was my third trip to Vegas in three years. Each time I've been there has been for a copywriting seminar or conference.

And even though the casinos are tempting, in three visits I have yet to drop so much as a quarter into a slot machine or engage in any other form of gambling.

Why? I mean I know people who dream about going to Vegas and think I'm nuts for not gambling.

Basically, I hate to lose money. And when the best odds are 50/50 (playing Blackjack), I don't feel secure enough in those odds to toss any money on the table. Incidentally, the worst odds in a casino are on the slot machines, only something like a 27% chance of winning on each spin.

I'm not real sure why the leading copywriters insist on holding these seminars in Vegas. Although I do know that the guy who organzied this one took in Celine Dion on the first night there.

Did I mention I also think most of the shows in Vegas are pretty lame?

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Boy, send a guy out to promote his book and visit with Zunch clients in China and what happens...?

Not sure what'd up with Terrence in the below photo, but we may want to hide this post from his wife. I never knew the guy was such a lady's man.

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I'll spare you the details, since there really aren't that many. But last week my wife, the kids and I headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama for a few days at the beach.

The trip there and the time spent there was pretty uneventful, other than the fact that it seemed like everyone in Alabam looks a lot like Larry the Cable Guy.

But the journey back? Let's just say we are now of the opinion that Louisiana must be pretty desperate for cash and has turned its highways into the country's single largest speed trap.

My wife got nailed, not once, but twice with speeding tickets.

Now, admittedly, we know we aren't supposed to speed, but man, that stretch between Lafayette and Shreveport is one of the most mind-numbingly boring stretches of road I've ever seen. It practically begs you to speed just to get to some changed scenery.

Hate to tell you this Louisiana, but any plans we had for visting your State again anytime soon are now offically squelched, unless of course Governor Kathleen Blanco  wants to intervene and grant us clemency on our tickets.

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Zunch's much anticipated and long awaited SEO seminar in Beijing took place Saturday, and  Zunch China’s president Terrence Ou was a hit with the audience.

The one-day seminar, titled “Third Generation Web Development & Unlocking the Potential of Search Engine Optimization” (hey, Terrence likes a long title, okay?), attracted more than 200 attendees from a wide array of China's leading eCommerce site owners and managers. The audience attendees included representatives from China Net, the number one Chinese Internet Service Provider.

Attendees had the opportunity to learn the latest in Web development concepts and the search engine optimization (SEO) technology offered by Zunch.

“The seminar was very well-organized and Teacher Ou delivered his message with great energy and charm,” said General Manager Guo Li of China Publishing House of Electronics Industry, the primary organizer of the event.

 Post-seminar surveys indicated attendees were extremely satisfied with the information offered and enjoyed and appreciated Terrence's presentation. A number of students indicated that they wished the seminar had been extended into a two day long event.  

In addition to Terrence, Zunch China SEO specialists Bill Shi and Penny Wang also spoke to attendees about their knowledge and experience in performing SEO.

The audience was also impressed by Zunch China’s leadership the search engine optimization industry and indicated they looked forward to working with Zunch in the near future.

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Zunch's own Terrence Ou has left the building and is heading East.

Far East to be exact.

Terrence is headed to China where he'll attend a conference to promote his book, SEO Unlocked, discuss search engine optimization with over 100 Chinese business leaders and meet with current Zunch China clients as well as a few prospects.

So we won't be seeing Terrence hanging around our hallways for the next 30 days.

We'll keep you posted on details as Terrence sends them back.

For the time being, he's settling in for a very, very long flight.

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Over at the SEO 2.0 blog, Zunch was recently recognized for both its skills in the art of SEO and SEM, as well as our design for our Website.The blog ranks Zunch among the top 15 SEO/SEM company sites for a compelling design for the company's own Website.

  Hey, we appreciate the recognition, but what’s up with the sombrero, dude?

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Sports Illustrated runs a weekly "This Week's Sign of the Apocalyse" wherein it publishes a short comment on some event that either shows how trivial we are or indicates that, yes, civilization as we know it is coming to a end.

Well, this week's sign of the apocalypse on the Internet comes to us from a Massachusetts doctor who has diagnosed and treated himself for Wii-itis, a condition similar to tennis elbow that results from extended sessions playing the Nintendo Wii.

I'm not a gamer, but from what I understand, the Wii, unlike most game consoles that allow gamers to remain sedentary, requires players to simulate movements, such as swinging a tennis racket.

The treatment? Rest and ibuprofen.

I'd suggest a further treatment, cut out the marathon sessions on the Wii.

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The company said it expects to continue to do well this year.

Really? They expect to do well? That’s like me saying I expect my kids will bug for a new Bratz doll this week.

Seriously, Google continues to amaze with their continuous revenue and profit growth. At some point you have to expect that the day will come when they actually regress a bit, but that day seems to be a very long way off.

A few skeptics on Wall Street keep saying the day will come when Google can’t keep it up and the stock collapses, but the true test for the prescience of these Chicken Littles is for them to actually tell us when Google will stumble.

Despite those skeptics, I don’t know if you follow the stock market, but I’m pretty sure no one is shorting the stock right now.

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 Microsoft is doing some saber-rattling again.

 Microsoft executives said Thursday that they intended to respond to the growing threat to its software posed by rivals like Google that offer Web-based versions of its applications. The executives said Microsoft would add similar Internet services to its own well-known desktop applications like Office or Excel.

During a meeting with financial analysts, Microsoft executives laid out the clearest description to date of Microsoft’s plan to compete with companies offering free or lower-cost “software as a service.”

You can read all about it in this New York Times article.

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Meanwhile, Wikia, Inc., the for-profit company developing the open source search engine Search Wikia, has acquired Grub, a distributed crawler platform, from LookSmart.

Distributed crawlers are software programs used by search engines to roam the web to discover pages that are then downloaded and indexed for searching.

 The crawlers operated by the major search engines are highly centralized, operating out of massive data centers, and are capable of finding and downloading millions of pages per minute. Wikia acquired Grub as part of its plan to build a "transparent and open platform for search," according to Jimmy Wales, co-founder and chairman, Wikia, Inc.

Wales is currently on a mission to enter the search engine market,  with an eye toward toppling Google’s pre-eminence as the number one search engine.

Well, good luck with all that, Jimmy.

It seems everybody’s got Google in their gun sites, although Google just kind of nonchalantly goes about it business, cranking out new products and services (admittedly, some of which crash and burn pretty quickly).

And it’s interesting that Microsoft finds itself playing catch-up in offering office suite products on-line. Could it be that they’ll see their dominance slip away, ala their experience in the search engine market? This is a market still in it's infancy, but given the way the Net works, online office products for word processing and spread sheets could sudden;y becoem the rage in as a little as a few months. 

It’s too bad these companies can’t get into a "Texas Cage Match." You know, lock all three in a cage and let them wrestle one another for dominance. A kind of “Smackdown” Web match.

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My dream job would probably be to be employed as a combination movie critic/book critic. And I do write reviews on Amazon.com, although not nearly as many as I once did.

Moreover, ever since an incident I had in thrid grade, I've been fascinated by ghosts, off-and-on.

With the above in mind, I recently watched the movie "An American Haunting." My wife thought it was good, not great. I couldn't bring myself to fully enjoy it because...well...it is based on historical events related to "The Bell Witch" and a lot of it was inaccurate (including their reason for the incidents which led to the haunting that was the subject of the film).

So who's the Bell Witch? Actually, there's not a witch named Bell. Bell was the name of the family that was reputed to have been cursed by a witch. According to accounts of what occurred, an invisible entity, which came to be known as the "Bell Witch" by many, literally tortured the Bell family between 1817 and 1821.

What makes this story so famous is that the events were witnessed by numerous people, including Andrew Jackson, who would one day become the seventh president of the United States.

Making the incident all the more interesting is the fact that when John Bell, Sr. died, the entity claimed credit for poisoning him (yes, this ghost would actually talk to people). It's the only recorded incident of an alleged ghost actually killing someone.

I can't go into the details of all that happened to the Bells, there's no where near enough space here. But you can learn more about the Bell Witch at the Bell Witch Website and the Bell Witch Fan Site. Do a search for "the Bell Witch" and you'll find plenty of other sites with info on it.

If you do get interested, I suggest you watch the movie before reading about the Bell Witch. Standing alone, the movie is actually rather good. It's just when you've read soemmof the historical accounts of what happened, you really have to question a lot of things in the film, including its resolution as to what the basis of the haunting was.

Let's just say, whether you believe in ghosts or not, the Bell Witch is a fascinating subject.

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  Google's share of the search engine market actually slipped slightly in June 2007, but it still gained in overall number of searches.

 Confused? Don’ t be.

 comScore, the marketing research company that tracks search engine data, tells us that over 8 billion searches were conducted on the Web in June, up from 3.6 billion in May.

 The number of searches conducted on Google actually went up, but as a percentage of overall searches, Google was down a bit.

 Here are the latest percentage of searches for the top five search engines in the United States for June 2007, as reported by comScore:

•   Google Network: 49.5%, down from 50.7% in May 2007
•  Yahoo Network: 25.1%, down from 26.4%
•  Microsoft Network: 13.2%, up from 10.3%
•  Ask.com Network: 5.0%, no change
•  AOL (Time Warner) Network: 4.2%, down from 4.6%

Here are the raw numbers:

•  Google Network: 4 billion searches, up from 3.6 in May 2007
•  Yahoo Network: 2 billion searches, no change
•  Microsoft Network: 1.1 billion searches, up from 757 million in May 2007
•  Ask.com Network: 403 million searches, up from 376 million in May 2007
•  AOL (Time Warner) Network: 341 million searches, down from 364 million in May 2007

 Microsoft  and Ask must be doing something right. Microsoft  had a huge gain, breaking the 1 billion mark for the first time. Ask broke 400 million for the first time, perhaps reflecting their new look and new services that have drawn raves from numerous corners. Take a look at Ask to see what i'm talking about.

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This group represents 40% of the US population.

Even more impressive, they account for 70% of US net worth.

Who are they?

You might just be one of them (as I am). They're the Baby Boomers, who together with their elders increasingly are a market segment that many Websites ignore.

and if you are in the B-toC arena, you simply can't ignore this market. Sure, everyone seems to be chasing that 18-40 age bracket who are so hard to market to, but we're talking about a group that's got real money to spend that many companies seem to ignore.

And they are wired. According to a recent study by ThirdAge, Inc. and JWT BOOM, over 70% of this group have Broadband connections, well above the national average.

And this group is currently spending some $7 billion a year online.

What are they looking for on the Web?

Well, too of the biggest areas they search in are health and finance. But researcxh indicates that for nearly every purchase, from buying a pizza to buying a house, they are searching the Web before making a decision.

So if your marketing is currently ignoring this segment, it's time to reconsider. The Baby Boomers represent a group with lots of disposable income, and if you're Web marketing is mising them, you're missing out on profits.

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As a Web copywriter, my attitude toward Flash is generally that it is of the devil.

It interferes with the ability of the search engine spiders to read and index Web pages. It takes an interminable time to load, steering most visitors away who have no time for such foolishness.

And, recently, it’s actually becoming a sales tool.

Copywriters, particularly those with a search engine optimization background, generally hate Flash. Flash designers, generally dislike copywriters. Kind of a “good vs. evil” thing, although I leave it to you to decide who is the good guy and bad guy here.

Flash was once the exclusive province of the artistic and those who sought to appear cool. You may recall my blog about my experience with Ted, who was so dedicated to the idea of appearing “cool” that he was sacrificing sales leads every day.

Well, I’m coming around. Not to the idea that a site needs to be cool, although if a site can be both effective, i.e., turn prospects into clients, and cool, that’s great.

No, I now see that marketers are figuring out how to make Flash work to their benefit.

Marketers and designers are figuring out how to structure Flash within a site so that it does not dominate the site and drive spiders away or take a long time to load. And when I say a long time, I’m taking into account the fact that three seconds is forever on the Web. Three seconds is long enough to drive most visitors away if they have to wait for your site to load.

Those who have worked out the structural aspects are also figuring out something else, if you make Flash and its many cousins interactive, people will stay and “interact” with it.

There are sites that now offer “talking heads”-- animated individuals who speak only when rolled over or clicked on, thereby giving the visitor the power to decide if they wish to interact or not.

Some offer games or quizzes, adding entertainment value to the site. And entertainment is becoming increasingly important in attracting younger prospects who at the age of twenty are already jaded individuals made cynical by years of advertising bombardment.

And I’m seeing many other applications which are designed to engage the prospect, rather than merely put on the Internet equivalent of a laser light show (which inevitably prove boring and dull after a few seconds of initial viewing).

As marketing learns to work with Flash, perhaps we will finally see the day when copywriters and Flash designers can stand together and say, “We actually like each other.”

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Normally I try to avoid rhyming headlines, a little too cute in msot cases. But somehow, this one seems appropriate.

You see, I come from a direct marketing writing focus. That means that I was trained to write to evoke some action out of the reader, e.g., click on a link or buy a product. To me, that should be the goal of all copy, to get the prospect to take some action a client wants them to take.

Way, way too many agencies and writers these days are focused on awards. You know what? The first ad I ever wrote, won an award. But it didn't sell squat.

And, since it didn't get anyone to part with their money, despite the award, it was a failure.

Since nearly all Zunch clients are either B-to-B or B-to-C, or both, I assume that's what they want when they ask me to write for them. "Sell our product or service." "Get the prospect to click on this link." "Convince the prospect to subscribe." Or whatever action it is the client wants the prospect to take.

Now, just because I write with a sales bent, doesn't mean my copy is sales-y. I sure as heck don't want to come off sounding like a bad car salesman.

It is possible to write interesting, attention-grabbing copy that is also creative, persuasive copy. And that's my goal every time a client asks me to write for their site.

My goal, and Zunch's goal, is to make out clients successful.

Claude Hopkins, who is considered the father of modern copywriters, once said, "The only purpose of advertising is to make sales."

I try to take it a few steps further-- "The only purpose of marketing is to create profits."

If your Website marketing isn't working, give us a call here at Zunch. I'll bet we can pump some life into it and make that a site a profit center, rather an expense on your balance sheet.

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Google has joined the list of companies opposing the law which attempts to regulate keyword bidding.

The new law would ban companies from bidding to use rivals' names as triggers for ads that appear during searches.

Oddly, Google, a company which is in the information gathering business, failed to become aware of the law until after the Utah legislature unanimously passed it. Identified as the Trademark Protection Act, Utah Governor Jon Huntsman's staff told the Associated Press that no one objected to the law before he signed it.

How did Google and others affected by this law miss the chance to fight it before it passed? No one seems to know for sure, but somehow this law managed to slip under the radar and now poses a threat to Google, and other search engines’, bottom line.

A Google spokesman told the The Salt Lake Tribune, "This law hurts consumers, violates free speech, and is inconsistent with both established U.S. trademark law and our capitalist system."

To be fair, the law received little press attention before it was passed.

Now Google and others might end up challenging the law in court. As a guy who still occasionally practices law, I can tell you there's a very good chance the law will be struck down.

But in the meantime, it's set to take effect on June 30.

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Hey, I forgot to mention the latest addition to our sales department-- Daniel Zavala.

Welcome to the Zunch Bunch, Daniel.

Just remember to tell those prospects that hiring Zunch Worldwide means hiring the world's greatest Web copywriter-- me.

Okay, there is this guy up in Canada that's probably a little better than me. But only because he's been doing it longer.

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His is a name known only to copywriters and marketers, but you've probably seen one of his ads and never known it.

Gary Halbert, "the Prince of Print," passed away last night.

Gary was a master of the art of persuasion and one of the greatest of the modern day copywriters. In fact, Gary would tell you himself that he was the greatest. He never lacked for self-esteem.

For copywriters and marketers, his The Gary Halbert Letter was must reading. In fact, for anyone trying to market a product or service, both on-or-off the Web, I recommend you visit his site and start reading. It'll take a while, there is tons of material on it, but it's well worth the time.

And a bit of warning, Gary could be a tad profane. Still, some of his letters are pure gold and any time I can find copy he has written, I quickly save it for future reference.

I never met him, but I did exchange a series of e-mails with him once on the subject of the best day to run print ads in the newspaper. Neither of us could convince the other who was right, so Gary pronounced me a ****weasel, which, believe it or not, is something of an honor among Halbert followers.

Wish I'd kept that e-mail exchange now.

Although he was known primarily for his print ads, he had a tremendous influence on many online marketers and copywriters, including me. 

He will be missed in the copywriting/marketing community.

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A virus has hit Zunch. No, not the kind that destroys databases and forces you to spend hours trying to recover data and reboot the system. This is the human variety.

Unfortunately, I may be the source of this virus. Saturday I attended a carnival at my daughter's school. In hindsight, I recall seeing a lot of sniffling going on among the kids, as well as a few kids who looked sick. But, kids being kids, they were not about to miss a chance to jump around in a bounce house.

By Sunday evening, I was feeling it. Wednesday it got bad enough I missed work and went to the doctor, where I was told I had a serious sinus infection and had  caught a virus making the rounds in Dallas. In fact, Star (yes,that's her real name), my doctor's nurse, told me all that they had been seeing for several days was people with my symptoms.

Well, today I still feel rotten, but there were a few meetings that I absolutely had to attend, so I came in anyway. Only to learn that two fellow Zunchers were now out with the same thing.

So if you happen to be looking for Zunchers Dan and Alberto today, be aware, the virus has put them out of commission for a day or two. And if you're looking for me, I'm trying to stick it out, but I might not last much longer.

I guess misery does love company.

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Michel Fortin, who I have been fortunate enough to have briefly studied under, has a great article on the importance of the choice of names for your company.

That importance can extend to your Website url. For instance, did you know that Google and other search engines will give some additional weight to a site if it's url happens to have a keyword or keyword phrase in it?

Not that doing so will rocket you to the top of the listings, but if you can incorporate a keyword into your url, it gives you another leg up on attracting attention.

Unfortunately, some people take this too far. That's why you end up with convoluted Websites with names like "get-my-cheap-mortgage-interest-rate.com." Thankfully, no such site exists, but you've probably seen those ridiculously long url names that are nothing more than an attempt to get some extra points from the search engine spiders.

You do need a memorable name. But being memorable also usually means being relatively short. Ten-to-twelve letters long, max.

"Zunch" is memorable, in part, because it is a unique name (I find new clients guessing at its origin and meaning all the time), but also because it is short and easy to recall.

Finding the right name for a new business is hard. Finding the right url can be even harder.

A few pointers--

• Alliteration helps recall
• Rhyming does the same
• Partiicularly with urls, avoid names having more than 10-12 characters
• Your surname may well be a good choice for a unqiue company name or url

If you are in the midst of trying to create a name for a new venture, or if you've decided you want to re-brand and change your name, I suggest you visit Michel's article for a quick lesson on the art of choosing a name.

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Baidu, the reigning search engine champ in Asia, has caught a serious case of click fraud, and it might work to Google's advantage.

According to an article appearing on the Bizreport site, the click fraud rate on Baidu may be as high as 34%, meaning one-in-three clicks is fraudulent. Baidu has a commanding 58% of the search engine market in China.

Meanwhile, Google, which has roughly 17% of the Chinese market, has set up filtering systems to try to catch click fraud. As a result, it's click fraud rate is estimated at 24%, ten percent lower than that of Baidu, but still way to high by any standards (you'll note in the article, Google reports it misses only .02% of fraudulent clicks).

Could this drive advertisers in China to turn more of their business Google's way? That remains to be seen.

What is certain is that advertisers should not depend on the search engines to take care of the click fraud problem. Wherever you advertise in the world, your best defense against click fraud is a detection tool, such as Zunch's own Click Fraud Detective.

If you are using pay-per-click, or some other form of paid advertising on the Web, you owe it to your bottom line to look into some type of click fraud detection.

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You know how sometimes you'll do a search in Google and in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS), there'll be a listing that looks like what you want, only when you click on it you can't find what you were looking for on that page? There's actually a little trick that most people don't know about that will help you find that well hidden word or phrase.

Maybe I can explain this best with an example. Let's say I'm trying to find the names of marketing managers for business products companies.

I do my search, and "Wile Coyote Acme Business Products" turns up in the results. Only when I click on the link, I can't find the marketing manager's name anywhere on the page.

Well, assuming the marketing manager’s name is buried somewhere within that site, Google has a tool that makes it easy to find.

It's called "Search Within Site,” and here's how it works:

1.  Go back to the to Google page.

2.  Click on "Advanced Search". You’ll find it to the right of the box you type your search terms in.

3.  At the top of the “Advanced Search” page, you’ll see options for the word or words you are looking for. Type your search term into the appropriate box. In our example, you’d type in “marketing manager” in the field “Find Results With Exact Phrase.”

4.  Midway down the “Advanced Search” page, you’ll find "Only Return Results from This Domain". Type in the company's web address into the field to the right of it.

5. Hit your “Enter” key or  click "Google Search".

If the term you are searching for is on the site, it will show up in these search results.

It takes a few more steps than the typical search, but it's worth the effort to dig a little deeper into a site and find exactly what you’re looking for.

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There are three major mistakes that most Websites, especially corporate and B-to-B sites, tend to make. Avoid them, and you increase your chance of turning a prospect into a customer.

1. Using corporate speak or language that's too formal

There's a little secret that coypwriters who understand marketing and creating Website content know. It can most easily be summed up as-- "Write like you talk."

Here's a sample of language that actually greeted visitors to one company's Website:

Government spending is a major economic driver that has a tangible impact on the economic well-being of every business and individual.

Wow, that's insightful. And sure to keep those prospects hanging on every word.

Here's the problem--

It's basically gibberish. Doesn't tell me a thing about the site I've just arrived at, the company, what they do or why I should stick around and read more of this scintillating, "keep-em-on-on-the-edge-of-their-seat" copy.

Your Website should be actively marketing your services or products. In plain English.

Don't William F. Buckley or bureaucrat-speak your visitors to death.

Trust me on this.

If you write your own content, or even if you hire someone else to do it, write it in a conversational voice. To help you do this, just picture yourself sitting at a cafe across from a potential client who's interested in doing business with you. You'd never spew the above drivel in a face-to-face with someone. Why do it online?

2. Focusing on "me"

I've got a relative who can literally suck the air out of a room talking about herself. Based on some Websites I've seen, they're doing the same thing to the bandwidth on their site. And driving prospects away in the process.

Don't tell me how incredible your service or product is, how great you are or how you "continuously work to improve" your products.

Focus on the visitor. Sure you want to tell them about your products and services, more importantly about the benefits of them, but you've got to engage the visitor. Show them that you are interested in them.

3. Going for the Sale too Soon

Believe it or not, if you interest your visitor by speaking to them in a conversational tone and by focusing on them, they will stick around and read what you have to say.

Even if it means reading below the fold on the screen. Seriously.

Way too many Websites "go for the kill," far too early on the page.

Think of it like this. If you walk into a store and a salesperson approaches you and says, "What can I sell you today," odds are you're not going to be buying from that store.

The same is true of a Website. Take your time asking for the visitor's business (and, by the way, do make sure you have a "Call to Action" on your Webpage). Let them develop a degree of comfort and trust with you before you ask them to buy or contact you.

Admittedly, there is a bit of an art to this, but you can probably do a decent job of enticing your prospect to take action if you take your time in asking them to do so.

4. Bonus Mistake-- No Headline

A personal pet peeve of mine. Although come to think of it, all four of these mistakes are pet peeves of mine.

I'm not talking just any headline, but one that tells them why they came to your site in the first place and entices them to read on. You need to give them a reason to read on and to explore your site.

The headline should compel them to read the first sentence. The first sentence should compel them to read the second...and so on.

It really frustrates me thinking about how some businesses will spend thousands of dollars, and sometimes hundreds of hours, designing a Website and then just throw some copy off of their brochure (probably a very bad brochure) up on the site. Copy that has no headline and lacks any thing in the way of persuasive qualities.

Give yourself an advantage...

over your competition. Spend time crafting a well-developed message on your Web pages. Most Websites make at least two of the above mistakes. You don't have to. You can get an edge on your competition, simply by spending time crafting your message so that it is understandable and persuasive.

If you need help, give us a call here at Zunch and ask for me. I'll give you copy that overcomes all of the above mistakes.

Oh, and it will also be optimized for the search engines.

After all,on the Web, you're writing for two audiences, your prospects and the search engines. You have to give both a good reason to visit and cruise your site.

,

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ITV is Britian's oldest independent television network. It competes with the government run BBC roster of channels.

It's also the biggest recipient of advertising revenue in Britain. But maybe not for long.

According to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google's revenues in the UK hit $1.6 Billion in 2006. That makes it the number two ad revenue earner in Britian, trailing only ITV, which had revenues of $4.2 Billion in 2006.

Despite that seeming large gap between the two, Google is growing quickly in Britain, benefiting from a shift away from more traditional advertising mediums like television. The $1.6 Billion figure represented a whopping 83% rise in revenues over 2005.

Think there's room for growth in online advertising in the British Isles? With Google reporting numbers like that, it sure looks that way.

Google is obviously aware that its growth in ad revenue in the UK might be making some uneasy. Google issued a statement that "[t]he market for online ads is growing and there's room for many players within it."

Translation?

"We'll try not to wipe other media companies off the face of the earth. But it's not our fault if they can't follow the money."

Odds are Google won't overtake ITV this year, but if Google's ad growth in Britan remains on its current tear, it's feasible that Google could be number one in ad revenue in the UK by 2009, possibly as early as 2008.

On a side note, not everything at Google may be quite as rosy as its ad revenues would indicate. The SEC has made several formal requests regarding probing Google's tax accounting. There's probably way more smoke than fire there, but you have to wonder about the repercussions of an accounting/ earnings scandal at Google, were one to ever come.

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Google  has announced a change in its policy on indefinitely storing search histories. Google will no longer store data that could link individual users with their search histories for an extended period of time.

Instead the records will become anonymous after 18 to 24 months, meaning the information would no longer be traceable to the individual searcher.

Some privacy advocates hailed the move as a step forward. Others, among them Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy and Information Center, feel there's no reason to keep the data even that long.

"I think it is an absolute disaster for online privacy," Rotenberg told The New York Times.

His fear is that Google will set a standard, and the 18-24 month period will become the standard length of time that search companies retain such information.

It's not necessarily clear why Google needs to retain logs that tie individual users to their searches for any extended period. 

Admittedly, companies need some information about how many clicks came from the same address to resolve click fraud disputes.  But those disputes usually focus on how many clicks came from the same IP address in the span of minutes or hours.  Moreover, its questionable that such information would be needed for more than two-to-three months anyway.

Expect this issue to continue to grow, especially if another "AOL"-type incident occurs.

you may remember that in the summer of 2006, AOL inadvertantly released search logs for more than 650,000 users. Although the information was not tied to IP addresses, some searchers were still easily identifiable just by the nature of their queries. The New York Times used the information to identify  Thelma Arnold, listed as "User No. 4417749" in the search logs, based solely on her search history records.

And recall also that the Justice Department attempted to randomly grab millions of records from Google.

Is there a good compromise on this issue? Privacy advocates would say "no," particularly since none of the search engines has yet to offer a good non-commercial reason why it's necessary to store the information.

I'm not sure how this will ultimately play out. Google's move is a step in the right direction, but in an age where maintaining privacy is increasingly difficult, how do you balance the needs of commerce against the rights of individuals?

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you've probably encountered this problem. you do a search on Google, take a look a look at the organic listings and click on one that looks like its what you're after.

Only once the page pops up, instead of finding the information you're looking for, you get a page full of listings of sites with links to other sites. Usually these are links that the holder of the particular Web page will be paid for if you happen to click on one.

Sometimes you get lucky and there are links that actually help you in your search. But, more often, it's an annoyance, cutting into your all too valuable time and slowing your search for information you really want.

Well, the days of those "list" pages showing up in the top of the SERPs may be coming ot an end, at least on Google.

You can read more about the problem and Google's planned solution in this article from Search Engine Land.

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According to the latest data available, with 69.4 percent of its population online, North America has the highest rate of Internet usage in the world.

Africa has the lowest penetration rate, at 3.5 percent, however the continent has experienced a 625.8 percent growth in usage since 2000. Overall, 16.6 percent of the world population is online.

(Source: Internet World Stats)

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We hear from another corner of the media universe on how ad budgets are being sliced in other areas while increasing on the Internet.

In this article from MediaPost Publications, the reporter notes that the Internet picked up ad dollars as advertisers and marketers continue to realize that a number of their prospects are cruising the Web, and not necessarily watching TV or reading the paper, in their free time.

Internet ad spending rose 17.3% from 2005 to 2006. Expect further growth in ad spending on the Web. And expect to see search engine optimization continue to grow, as some 80+% of those searching for a product or service on the Web use the search engines to find it.

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Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, a department of Beijing Municipal Government, recently agreed that it will acquire Zunch’s search engine optimization (SEO) services to optimize their Chinese and English sites once the sites are available in approximately three months.

In early December 2006, Zunch’s own Terrence Ou was invited to visit the Bureau’s Information Center to discuss the needs of the Bureau and demonstrate the Zunch could provide solutions for the Bureau’s needs.

The Center’s director, Sam Xu, later wrote to Terrence-- “We are very impressed with Zunch’s superior experience in helping many companies promote an online presence. Although we are not a for-profit organization, we also need traffic from our target audience to visit us, especially when it is only 20 months away from the opening of 2008 Beijing Olympics.”

Wow! I totally forgot about the fast approaching 2008 Summer Olympics.

 With the approach of this event, the Chinese government is developing more English-language sites to serve foreign visitors to the country. And that development has created another good opportunity for Zunch to get involved in the rapidly growing country.

Terrance has been a very busy guy, meeting with a number of potential Chinese clients and introducing them to Zunch.

Recently, Terrance sold our SEO services to a data recovery agent in Guangzhou.

Next week, a large Chinese real estate company will be in talks with  Zunch regarding developing their interactive Buy-and-Sell Website.

And a Beijing-based career search engine is also in the middle of reaching an agreement for SEO services.

 Yeah, Terrance has been a very busy guy. And his books not even out yet. Once the book is in circulation, I doubt Terrance will be allowed to sleep for more than 30 minutes a day.

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Curious about what the most popular searches are? Ever wonder what the rest of the world is looking for on the Internet?

Two sites, Yahoo!Buzz and GoogleZeitgeist, can keep you up to date and informed on the latest search trends.

As you'll see, most of the top searches are tied to recent news or events. Anna Nicole Smith seems to be a popular search choice right now.

And I have a confession to make. When she died a few days ago, I actually did go online and search for news of her death,mostly because the local sports talk radio station, the Ticket, mentioned it in their sports ticker, of all places.

They're two very interesting sites to visit. If nothing else, you can keep up with what's hot right now.

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Google is adding maps and word processing services to its Chinese site in its ongoing fight to grab a bigger share of the search engine market in China.

In the last quarter of 2006, Baidu had a 58% share of China's 476 million yuan ($61 million) search market, while Google trailed with a 17% share. Google wants a much bigger share of that fast growing market, but has had difficutly making inroads into the Chinese market.

The new service, known as Google DI Tu, Chinese for 'map," covers 146 cities in China. Google also offers word processing and spreadsheet programs in Chinese, just as they do in the United States, although the specific links apparently aren't yet available in Zunch's corner of the world..

Whether the average Chinese citizen will switch to Google remains to be seen. As evidenced by its marketshare, over half of all Chinese currently prefer Baidu. But don't count Google out.

As the Internet continues to shrink the world (so ot speak), expect the Chinese to become more trusting of Google. Especially if they happen to be a Chinese company wanting to do business with Western nations.

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Google Apps is about to step into waters that Microsoft has long dominated. Although the current move is probably the equivalent of putting your big toe in the water to test it, it's a sign that Google is getting serious about challenging Microsoft's suite of office products.

You can read more about it in this BusinessWeek article. 

As we all know, Google dominates the search engine market, a sore spot with Microsoft. What happens if Google actually mounts a challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the business applications market?

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My friends, both of them, will tell you that I have somewhat odd tastes in books and films. My wife will tell you it's beyond "odd."

On the book side, I'm the only person most people know who collects rare books on copywriting and marketing. I went nuts last year when noted advertising copywriter Bruce Bendinger sent me a copy of the late John Matthews' book, The Copywriter.

Is that a yawn I hear in response to that anecdote?

I can travel down some equally bizarre paths in films.

For instance, a few years ago I heard about a film Richard and Danny Elfman (yes, the same Danny Elfman who now writes movie scores, most notably for Tim Burton) made back in their "Mystic Knights of the Oinga Boinga" days. The Knights, as you should know, were the predessors to the less phonetically challenged "Oinga Boinga."

The film was made in 1980 in black and white, directed by Richard, and featured cardboard cutout backgrounds for sets and Herve Villechaize, of Fantasy Island fame, as the king of a world hidden in another dimension..

What's the title of this momentous film (that you've probably never heard)?

Forbidden Zone.

Not The Forbidden Zone, as it is sometimes incorrectly referred to, just Forbidden Zone.

This is one of those "must be seen to be believed" type films, and not because it features state-of-the-art special effects. Believe me, it doesn't. Back when we were kids, my brothers and I made better sets on our carport when we'd try to build a rocketship to fly to Mars in.

But let me tell you, after you see it, whenever you hear the term "cult film," Forbidden Zone will always come to mind.

Now, for years I waited and watched to see if this film might turn up at a midnight film festival. It didn't. I searched discount bins in second hand stores for a dvd of it. Couldn't find it.

Yeah, I could've ordered it online or from some store, but where's the fun in that?

Finally, it turned up on Showtime. Now I'm not a regular Showtime subscriber, but we moved recently and got one month free with our new cable service. So last month, I was treated to Forbidden Zone, not once, not twice, but five times! and at no cost.

I won't ruin it for you by telling you too much, just let me say-- Where else can you watch Danny Elfman, dressed as the devil, singing a demented version of Minnie the Moocher?

'Nuff said.

Anyway, the guys in the white suits are arrving. My next blog may be coming to you from a padded room.

By the way, I wouldn't watch this with the kiddies. It seems that, among other things, the princess of Forbidden Zone forgot to fully clothe herself prior to filming.

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You've probably seen it on the news, or more likely on the Internet, the story of a promotion for the Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, that didn't quite go as planned.

Seems someone thought it would be a clever idea to distribute blinking electronic signs with wires protruding from them throughout ten cities, all intended as a promotion for Aqua Teen, a part of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup.

It doesn't appear to have caused much of a stir in nine of the cities, but in Boston, things went awry. Someone decided it might be part of a terrorist attack and, suddenly, major roadways and subway lines were shut down and Boston went into panic mode.

Two men hired by Turner Broadcasting, owner of Cartoon Network, were arrested and subsequently released.

Luckily, neither of these guys worked for Zunch, although I've got a concern they may have inspired a few Zunchers to come up with their own off-the-wall promos. All I ask of any Zunchers considering such a move is, don't call me for bail money.

The promo, hysteria and subsequent fallout raises a few questions. Did these guys actually do anything wrong? Why did nine other cities apparently have no problem with the promotion? Does the City of Boston not have a sense of humor?

Okay, admittedly, Boston has good reason to be overly concerned about terrorists since flights out of their airport were part of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Still, once it was determined the devices were harmless, and from what I've read and seen, they really weren't all that sinister looking, why the hysteria?

I'm not real sure where to come down on this one. On the one hand, I have to admire the cleverness of the original campaign, and the fact that with the turn of events in Boston, it's gotten way, way more coverage and publicity than anyone at Turner could have expected (and probably well worth the $2 million that Turner is paying to the City of Boston). 

On the other, I also have to appreciate the concerns of officials in Boston. What if it had turned out to be some kind of terrorist bombing attack? Would we all be laughing at Boston and questioning whether the City has a sense of humor?

Viewing the devices  as part of  a potential terrorist plot is probably giving terrorists credit for being far more clever than they are, after all, terrorists seem to be notoriously lacking in senses of humor. But, who knows? These days, how do you make sure something like this is harmless?

I mean, that carton of fries guy from Aqua Teen looks kind of sinister (although I don't know if he was featured on any of the promotional devices).

But here's an idea-- next time someone cooks up an oddball promotion, let the authorities know ahead of time. That way, when someone who goes to bed before the Adult Swim portion of Cartoon Network airs sees a sinister looking sign and calls the cops, the cops can tell him (or her), lighten up.

Opinions, anyone?

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Ever have trouble remembering the words to songs, or even the song name or artist?

I had that problem recently when bits and pieces of the song "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, kept running thorugh my head, and I could not remember the name of the song or artist.

For some reason I was determined to buy it, but couldn't remember the title or who it was by. I fruitlessly walked into a CD store and tried to hum it to them (trust me, you don't want to hear me sing), but the staff just gave me blank states.

Luckily, my early-onset-alzheimer's memory eventually kicked in and I recalled the name of the song.

But for the next time I run into the problem, there's now a Website ready to come to my rescue.

Midomi allows you to find out the name of a song, simply by humming or singing part of the song into your computer. All you need is a microphone, and you'll never be driven nuts by a song fragment running through your head again.

Of course, in my case, this means i need ot run out and buy a microphone. But I'll probably forget to do that before another tune in my head drives me bats.

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It's no big secret that Apple vigorously protects its trade secrets and trademarks (although oddly enough they have no problem trampling all over someone else's trademarks when then want, e.g., the iPhone). But a California court has decided Apple overstepped its bounds when it sued bloggers at www.AppleInsider.com and www.PowerPage.org, over alleged violations of California state trade secret law.

Apple claimed the bloggers had violated the law by disclosing alleged "confidential information" about not-yet-released Apple products.

However, a  Santa Clara County Court felt otherwise and ruled against Apple and in favor of the defendants.  In doing so, the court ordered Apple to pay the legal fees incurred by defendants, including a 2.2 times multiplier of the actual fees, bringing the total to approximately &700,000.

The defendants were represented by attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The ruling is seen by web journalists as a First Amendment rights victory for the online community.

Kasper Jade, publisher of AppleInsider.com, said, "The court's ruling is a victory for journalists of all mediums and a tremendous blow to those firms that believe their stature afford them the right to silence the media. Hopefully, Apple will think twice the next time it considers a campaign to bully the little guy into submission."

Assuming the ruling stands, Apple could appeal, it marks a recognition of the courts that the First Amendment extends to the Internet. It also appears to be a step forward in establishing the legitimacy of journalists/bloggers reporting on the Web, rather than more traditional media.

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You almost have to feel sorry for Microsoft. First Zune, their late entry to the iPod/MP3 market, rolls out to little fanfair and slow sales.

Now Vista arrives. And lands with a "thud."

Across the nation, midnight launch events were planned at stores like CompUSA.  In New York City, it had been nearly an all day affair, culminating in an official launch party at the Nokia Theater in Times Square.

But across the nation, when the stores threw open their doors, things were kind of quiet. At a CompUSA in New York City, about 60 people lined up for the launch. Unfortunately, many of them turned out for other specials the store was offering.

That's not to say the launch was a complete failure. And the reality is, Vista will become the new standard operating system in PCs over the next few years.

But Microsoft could really use some good PR right now. They constantly seem to be playing catch up on the innovative side of technology, Zune being a prime example. As well as there recent upgrade of Internet Explorer.

I upgraded to the new IE shortly after it was launched. And almost immediately reversed course and went back the older version. Although I must admit, the guys in development and other tech types here at Zunch (at least those who aren't Firefox devotees), like the newer version.

Guess I'm just a caveman copywriter.

I'm not sure what's up next for Microsoft in product launches, but it will be interesting to see if they can actually get the public excited about  their next offering.

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DMOZ, long considered the leading directory on the Internet and an absolute must for listing your Website, had literally stopped accepting new submissions for the past three months.

The problem?

The site is run by volunteers and they had become overwhelmed by a backlog of listing requests. The situation had gotten so bad, some pundits were predicting that DMOZ was dead and no longer relevant.

DMOZ is a source site for all the top search engines, and getting listed there enhances your listing visibility on the search engines. So if you're not already listed on DMOZ, sign up today at www.dmoz.com.

A few tips for your listing--

• Make sure you choose the correct listing category for site
• Avoid offering any spam-like information
• Be patient, there still is a substantial time lag between submitting your site and getting listed
• Don't re-submit your site multiple times; DMOZ editors might interpret your attempts to do so as being spam

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Search share results for December 2006 are in and Google just keeps on expanding its share of the search engine universe. Google had a whopping 47.7% share of all searches on the Internet, meaning that out of 6.7 billion searches performed in the month of December, 3.2 billion were conducted on Google.

That 47% share represented a 0.4% increase over November 2006.

Yahoo! managed to slightly increase its share of searches from November to December, finishing in second with 1.9 billion searches, roughly 28% of all searches.

Microsoft held onto third place, but continued a trend in losing ground to Google and Yahoo!, falling 0.5% with 713 million searches and a 10.6% share of the search engine market.

So what does this mean for the hundreds of other search engines competing against Google?

Most will have to continue to try to find a niche for their serivces, offering services that Google doesn't or specifically targeting a market segment and its needs.

Microsoft may be in the most untenable position. It wants to be a dominant player in search, but is losing ground rather than gaining. There was an overall 30% rise in searches compared to December 2005, and Microsoft didn't get a lift out of that increase. Instead, it slipped further behind Google and Yahoo.

Naturally, Microsoft isn't backing off. They appear to be pinning their hopes for gains in market share to a new analytics platform currently called "Gatineau."  But Gatineau won't start beta testing until later this year, which probably means a launch date is a year away.

That's another year of potential further gains for Google.

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Zunchers have a new resolution for 2007—continue to establish and build upon the success of Zunch China.

And that’s not just because of Terrence Ou, Zunch’s resident “Man from China,” although he certainly has allowed Zunch to go where few others have gone before.

No, Zunchers are excited about China because of its amazing growth and the opportunities there for e-commerce development.

Terrence recently spent 50 days visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Taipei. The highlight of the trip presented Terrence with the opportunity to meet with Zunch’s largest client in China – Yaphon.com, one of China’s fastest growing B2B online import-export marketplaces.

Yaphon CEO Michael Zheng, a business leader at the forefront of online marketing, believes China is full of potential for Yaphon’s business because of the ever increasing number of  companies selling products globally. And Mr. Zheng sees Zunch’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) capabilities to be his company’s best solution for their online marketing efforts, all within a controllable and affordable budget.

 Ask Terrence about his trip and he can’t begin to add up the hours he spent speaking to representatives of numerous internationally-known companies in both mainland China and Taiwan. Terrence, the author of a forthcoming book on search engine marketing and strategy to be published in Chinese, gave a number of speeches at these companies, and was frequently swamped with questions afterward in Q&A sessions.

 These sessions were so successful that Terrence’s publisher, Broadview, plans to invite Terrence and Zunch CEO John Sanchez to chair a series of seminars and conferences on search marketing in China later this year. We’ll keep you posted on the exact dates.

 As Terrence has noted, “The Sun rises in the East, and China presents a new horizon for Zunch Worldwide.”

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Yes, believe it or not, Terrence Ou, our man wandering about China, is finally returning to the good ol' US of A. Sometime, tomorrow (December 19), he'll be landing at DFW.

Terrence returns after a lengthy excursion in China, where he finalized some contracts and made some new contacts. It was a quite a trip and we'll have Terrence share some details soon.

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Hey, so maybe you're interested in who our Zunchers are? Maybe you'd like to learn a little more about the people behind the scene?

In answer to those questions about Zunchers that are no doubt burning a hole in your brain, we introduce a new, ongoing series--

"THE SECRET LIFE OF ZUNCHERS"

And we're going to kick off by telling you about Nicole. Nicole is the newest member of our SEO team, hence the rather cumbersome title "Junior SEO Account Executive."

How long does she have to be a "Junior?" Who knows? Maybe 'til a new AE joins the team.

As to Nicole's secret life away from Zunch, Nicole is an anime fanatic. Also a bit of an anime artist as she has drawn a picture of "Black Lady" from the anime series "Sailor Moon."

Her favorite animes are "Sailor Moon," "Fruits Basket," "Battle Angel Alita" and "Full Metal Alchemist."

Never heard of them before? Just do a quick search and you'll find info on all three.

By the way, while Nicole doesn't know exactly who, or what, her favorite anime character is, she does know that if she were an anime character, she'd want pink hair.

And no, it's not currently that color.

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I recently told you how Zunch is now invading Italy and the rest of the European continent, but did you also know we already are in China?

Terrance Ou is our man in China, sorta...

You see, Terrance came to the US in the early nineties and has worked here at Zunch for the past several years. He's our expert on the Chinese market, a market everyone seems to want to get in on.

Terrance advises both English and Chinese clients on the Chinese market. He also oversees our Chinese website-- www.zunch.cn. Take a look at it sometime.

He'll be making a return trip to China within the next two weeks (he's working with current mainland Chinese clients, closing some more deals and will be scoping out locations for office space there), but if you've got a question about the Chinese market, give him a call. He'll be happy to share his insights on it.

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Zunch, in partnership with TrendOne Ltd., has landed on the shores of Italy. And Zunch is being welcomed with open arms and maybe even a little vino.

Soon, Italy and all of Europe will be Zunchified.

Read all about right here.

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Another Zuncher comes on board. Mohammed "Mo" Sayed has joined us as an interactive marketing associate.

Mo carries a rather unique genetic trait; he bleeds red and black. A trait I also share with him because we are both Texas Tech Red Raiders. Mo also lists his favorite food as being "steak." Hey, I can relate to that too.

Look for Mo to be giving you a call if you're not already using Zunch (shame on you). Better yet, give him a call and discuss your favorite college team with him while finding out more about using our services at Zunch.

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Another Zuncher is born.

Zunch welcomes Zenobia "Zen" Gonzalez as our newest interactive marketing associate. If you're not already using Zunch (and you know you should be), expect a call from Zenobia. Or, better yet, don't wait, call her at 214-455-4800. Just ask for "Zen" and we'll know exactly who to connect you with.

By the way, Zen may well be a one-of-a-kind Zuncher in that she names "Spinach" as her favorite food. Next thing you know, she's going to tell us her boyfriend's name is "Popeye."

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It's nearly mid-September, and that can mean only one thing for Zunchers--

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Yes, we've only got 50 days untill Halloween arrives. Only 50 days to find the perfect  outfit.

And if you wander the halls at Zunch long enough and peek over people's shoulders at those images on their computer screens, you'll see that a few people are indeed looking for that perfect costune.

Since Zunchers are kids at heart, Halloween is a major player around here. In fact, I understand it's a fire-able offense to fail to appear in costume on All Hollow's Eve.

And, no I don't have a costume yet. Should I break out my Bart Simpson mask? My Dracula cape? Let my daughters color me?

Stay tuned. When the day arrives, I'll be sure to post a few images of the costumes running up and down our halls.

Now I just have to wonder, do I need to have candy to hand out if they come "trick-or-treating" at my office door?

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Zunch is pleased to announce the addition of Craig Waugh to our sales team.

Craig, you are now officially Zunched.

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With several recent additions to the Zunch crew, someone took the initiative and organized a potluck lunch to try to introduce some of the newbies (like me) and just hang out for a while.

Pizza, fried chicken and cake were the main players, and luckily, there was no mystery meat present.

The conference room got a little packed when someone decided to crank up a DVD and we found ourselves watching "Dodgeball: A True Story." Zunchers from SEO, Creative Services, Development and all other departments scarfed and laughed their way through an extended lunch.

Is it just me, or does Vince Vaughn seem like the guy you wish was your best buddy?

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